


The One That Stuck

by TheNewCancer



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drama, F/M, Psychoanalysis, insanity au, primarily ereri, slight eremiin fluff, theraputic sessions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-23 20:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4890445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNewCancer/pseuds/TheNewCancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren hates his therapists. He's been through 17, and he's hated each and every one of them. His friends had been forcing him to see them since the... accident. And he hates them for it. But this one, number 18... this one was different. He didn't sugarcoat things. He was moody, foul-mouthed, arid and extremely OCD. And though he seemed the least qualified out of them all to treat him, he was the one that stuck. </p><p>Levi is a therapist. He has his methods, and while those methods may be unorthodox, or not quite up to moral standards, these methods have led him on a perfect streak; he's never met a patient he couldn't cure. But then, he meets Eren. Eren is stubborn, vague, short-tempered and borderline sociopathic. He wants nothing more then to be able to put this case behind him, but Eren was the one that stuck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Session I

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask me where I got this idea, because I couldn't tell you. I've decided for now to temporarily dump my other stories and use this one to get back into them. So anyone who's familiar with my other works, fear not. The gaybies will return.
> 
> For now, take this serious story about Levi as Eren's therapist. I thought it'd be cool to write Eren dwindling on the brink of insanity. Because I'm a sick, sadistic son of a bitch. 
> 
> Enjoy~

"Eren Jaeger?" A female voice dragged Eren out of his little daydream, bringing him back into the real world. He blinked a couple times, but his vision was blurry. Specifically in his right eye, and only when he looked left. He stood, staring curiously into the blurry spot as he made his way over to the small nurse in the small hallway, only glancing up once to give her a small smile. He thought that would be fitting.

"You're Eren?" The nurse asked. She was small, but not as small as she had looked from his chair in the corner of the waiting room. She had pretty auburn hair worn short and tucked behind her ear, and very pretty blue eyes. She was a small, pretty nurse. Eren nodded in response.

"Yeah."

"Come with me, then." She gave a smile, a fittingly small one, but genuine nonetheless. She led him down the small hallway to a door marked with a number 4 and a small rectangular sign with what Eren assumed should have had a name carved into it, but he couldn't tell. It was right in his blurry spot. He didn't bother turning his head to see what was on it.

"Please, have a seat. Make yourself comfortable. Doctor Levi with be with you shortly." Eren entered the room. It was much more spacious than he had anticipated. He heard the door close behind him, and he turned towards it just to make sure that... yes, she was gone. 

Eren turned back around to continue absorbing the appearance and atmosphere of the room. Olive green carpet, dark maroon walls... Two brown leather recliners sat in the center of it. The farthest wall was lined with tall windows, which had blinds pulled over them so the room was lit enough to maneuver through, yet not enough to see the black detailing on Eren's navy blue sneakers. 

As he approached the chairs, he stared at his feet. He found that as he got closer, the detailing became more and more defined, since he was moving closer to the light. He contemplated whether or not he should sit down in the chairs, one of them at least, but he figured that was the obvious thing to do. So he sat on the floor in front of the chair - the one facing the door. He was an avid anti-conformist. Sometimes he took it a little too seriously, though. 

"Mr. Jaeger." A silvery, monotonous voice came from the door. 

"Mr. Jaeger was my father." Eren didn't even look, he didn't care to look. He was trying to imagine its owner without looking, predict his appearance based on his voice. He imagined tall, dark hair, strong jawline. Muscular and aesthetically appealing, but not blatantly attractive. More like subtly attractive. The type of person you'd notice for their personality and fall for their appearance later. 

"Please, call me Eren." Eren turned, and he wasn't too far off. Doctor Levi was much shorter than he'd initially imagined, and much more attractive. He had thin silvery eyes to match his silvery voice, and wore his dark hair in an undercut, and his jawline was just as strong as predicted. He looked irritated, from Eren's worm's-eye-view. But even from such an awkward angle, he was undeniably good-looking.

"Yes, I know your name. It's written on my clipboard." He extended a hand, likely intending for Eren to shake it. Perhaps to help him up. "I'm Doctor Levi. Don't call me Doctor, though. Just Levi."

Eren slapped him a painfully awkward high five. "Bitchin'." He hopped up and plopped back down into the brown leather recliner. 

Levi gave an especially heavy sigh. That whole day, he'd gotten nothing but idiotic teenagers that had nothing to say except racial slurs and ignorant complaints about their parents and siblings. He was really not in the mood for another one. He sat down in the remaining chair and crossed his legs. Eren felt the need to patronize him. He just seemed like the type of person who would be fun to patronize. 

"Can I call you Doc?" 

"No, you can't."

"I'm gonna call you Doc. What's up, Doc?" He laughed.

Levi let out a deep breath and took his glasses out of his coat pocket. This twerp was obnoxious, but Levi was a professional. He could handle it.

"So this says you've been through... many therapists already."

"17, I believe."

"Is there any particular reason why you've been through so many?"

"I'm trying to set a record." 

"Sure you are." Levi's voice came out sarcastic, though he didn't intend for it to be. He did that a lot, the unintentional sarcasm. "Mind telling me the actual reason?"

"Didn't like 'em. They were too nosy."

"They're therapists. It's their job."

"I suppose."

Eren fiddled with the seam on the left armrest."Can we change the subject?" He didn't want to talk about it. Not because he felt it was personal, the topic just bored him. "Let's get to the juicy stuff." He added. He wanted to seem as witty and cunning as possible. He had to leave a good first impression, after all. 

"If you insist." Levi scanned the form pinned to his clipboard. Personally, he wanted to find something as personal as possible, something that would make the twerp choke on his breath. Bring him to the brink of tears. But he was a professional.

"Why are you here today?" He asked. He liked open ended questions. Every patient interpreted them differently. 

Eren felt the sudden urge to answer with lyrics from a Twenty-One Pilots song. "Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here."

"We?"

"Oui." Eren smiled at the knowledge that Levi wouldn't know that he'd said yes in French rather than 'we.' He liked that sort of dramatic irony. 

"Who's we?"

"Me and the voices in my head." Eren said with a cheeky grin. He loved messing with his therapists. 

Levi knew Eren was joshing him, but he also knew that if he let him continue he might let slip something that was actually true. "What do they say?"

"They tell me to do things. Mostly they criticize everything I'm doing, telling me I'm worthless and that I should kill myself. They also like to do celebrity impersonations."

"Do they?" Levi said in the most monotonous voice he could muster. 

"Oh, yeah. One of them does a really good Charlie Sheen though." He had to cover his mouth to conceal a smile and hold back a snort. Levi checked his watch. Twenty more minutes. 

"So tell me more about yourself, Eren." Levi said through a sigh, tilting his head and forcing a smile like he was genuinely interested. He couldn't pull it off, though. 

"Okay, umm..." Eren decided to take this question seriously. "I'm eighteen. Just graduated high school this past spring. No plans for college. Uhh..."

Levi could tell that his answers were genuine this time. He wanted to continue that train of thought. "What do you like to do?" 

"Consume."

"Consume as in...?"

"Well, see, there are two types of people in this world. Creators and consumers. My buddy Armin, he's a creator. He's a writer, see. Damn good, too. He's got a book published an' everything, and he's my age. The book got published a year ago. Me, I'm a consumer. I watch YouTube videos. Sometimes I tell myself I could be a YouTuber, but really... I can't. I'm boring. No talents, no drive. I used to have drive, though..." Eren stopped once he realized he was steering towards dangerous territory. Levi sensed he was getting closer to something personal. He dug deeper. 

"Why don't you have drive anymore?"

"Lost it, I suppose." He looked down again. Levi opened his mouth to speak in slow motion. It was slow motion in Eren's mind anyway. Eren knew if he didn't change the subject quickly, he'd end up revealing something he'd regret. He had to think, think... think of something quick, quick...

"S'anybody ever told you you're real attractive? Like to your face?" Eren regertted it as soon as it slipped out of his mouth. 

Levi blinked, and kind of zoned out. He was taken aback. Never before had a patient asked such a question. He pondered why, until he'd realized:

"Are you hitting on me?"

Eren froze. He figured this could go two ways; one, he gets all flustered and denies that he ever even said it because it's not like he had a crush on him... baka. Two, he acts super fucking smooth about it and flirts sarcastically because he's an asshole. 

"Yes. I am hitting on you." Because he was an asshole, he went with option two.

"The answer is no, Mr. Jaeger." Levi sighed and scribbled something down on his clipboard. "No, I've never been told that I am attractive, and no, I will not accept your flattery. I wold appreciate it if we could stay on topic." He snuck a glance at his watch. Twelve minutes.

"Damn." Eren gave a smile, to let Levi know he was joking. But Levi didn't see it, he was straightening out his shirt cuffs. He was wearing a nice pinstripe suit, with a dark green tie and an ivory button up underneath. It fit him well, well enough to accentuate what hips he had. Eren could tell he must have been very muscular. He didn't say anything about it, though. 

"So, returning to our prior conversation, what do you mean by 'lost your drive?'"

"My driver's license was revoked."

"Funny." Levi said, straight-faced and as monotonous as possible. "Did anything happen, anything that would cause the loss of this drive?"

"I ran over a cop."

"Mr. Jaeger I'd appreciate it if you'd take this session seriously." Levi was getting fed up with this.

"Why should I?" Eren was just getting cockier.

"Because you are paying good money for me to assess your emotional and social stability. I have never met a patient I couldn't treat, and I'm not allowing you to become a negative mark on my resume." Levi's volume never rose an inch, nor did his tone change too drastically. Yet there was a new intensity about the way he spoke that scared Eren. He wanted to hide.

"You'll give up on me eventually. They all do." Eren's volume, however, did rise a bit. He was defensive now, trying to scurry desperately back into his comfort zone. But Levi was holding the door shut from the other side.

"I am not an idiot, Jaeger." He leaned forward in his chair, resting his clipboard on his armrest so he could talk to Eren directly now. He was angry. "I know why you've gone through so many therapists. I know why you're acting like a cocky asshole. I have a PhD in Psychology, but really seeing through this pretentious façade of yours wouldn't require one, because it would take a hell of a lot of ignorance to not realize that you, Mr. Jaeger, are _terrified_ of your own emotions." 

The room had been quiet the whole time, but only now did the silence really become prominent to Eren. He stared like a deer in headlights at Levi, trying desperately to string together something, _anything_ to say in defiance to this accusation. But he couldn't even open his mouth to stutter a half-assed comeback.

Levi saw this, and he actually felt sorry for him. He spoke softly now. "I'm not giving up on you. I'm not like your other therapists. You don't have to open up now, but you can be damn sure you will eventually." He said, taking his clipboard and standing up. Eren watched as he tucked it under his arm and sauntered over to the door. He felt so... naked. He'd been hiding everything to avoid that feeling, but Levi had managed to force it on him anyway. 

"Have a good day, Jaeger. I'll see you next week." Levi said, with not so much as a glance back at Eren before he shut the door behind him. Eren stared at the small window in the door long after Levi had disappeared from it. He was so confused, so very confused. He should have resented Levi. But strangely, he didn't.

Eren checked the clock on the wall. There were technically still seven minutes left in the session. He wondered if Levi knew that.

Levi did.


	2. Session II: Psychopath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [sobbing because the latest manga chapter omfg]
> 
> Sorry that the gap between these chapters was so large, I was super busy and barely got time to write. I was in a rush to finish this chapter, and you can kinda tell towards the end xD nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it~

"Good afternoon, Mr. Jaeger." Levi was waiting for him today. Eren found him sitting in his chair, reading a book. He didn't even look up to greet him. 

Eren walked across the room and sat down in the chair opposing him. "What's up, doc?"

"Are you going to greet me like this every day?" Levi asked. 

"Absolutely." Even plopped down in his chair. 

"Wonderful." Levi said, and then he fell silent. He just read, and Eren sat there for a while as he did. He wasn't sure exactly why Levi was wasting time like this, maybe he just wanted to finish his chapter. But Eren decided he wouldn't be bothered by it. Because for him, tolerance was a conscious decision. 

He looked around the room and observed the same things he'd observed the week before. He reached into his back pocket for his phone, but... shit, it wasn't there. He'd forgotten Armin had confiscated it because Eren was being a jerk about going to this appointment. 

He sat in silence for a while, watching Levi flip pages, inhale and exhale... adjust his glasses now and then. After a few minutes of this, Eren decided he was bored. So he flipped around to sit in the chair upside down. Finally, Levi looked up.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking Eren up and down with a cocked eyebrow. From the angle Eren was looking at Levi, most people would look very unattractive. But Levi had somehow seemed to surpass this universal law. Eren saw no evidence of a double chin anywhere, despite the fact that Levi was looking down to make eye contact with him. 

"I want to live a life from a new perspective." Eren cited Panic at the Disco for his answer. Levi looked at Eren, looked at his page... and closed his book. No bookmark or anything, just closed it.

"Before we begin, Mr. Jaeger," Levi said, setting the book down on the small round table beside his recliner, a table that Eren did not remember being there during his last session. "Are you going to actually answer my questions today?"

"Mmmm..." Eren pretended to think about it, though he already knew what he was going to say. "No."

"You answered that question."

Eren squinted to try and figure out what he was talking about. Once he did, he shrugged. "That didn't count."

"Why wouldn't it?"

Eren narrowed his eyes at Levi, but instead of arguing his point he decided it was a pointless argument and that he didn't want to pursue it. "Fine, I'll answer your questions." Suddenly, he got moody. He didn't mean to at first, but he ended up just going with it.

"Alright, then let's begin." Levi pulled a notebook from a pocket on the side of his recliner and opened it up, flipping through a couple pages. "Today, I'd like to do something a little different."

"Different how?" Eren asked. Levi pulled out a stack of laminated papers, and straightened them out on his thigh. 

"Have you heard of a ink blot test?" Levi asked.

"I thought those things were phony." Eren said.

"They've never been proven so."

"Have they been proven accurate then?"

"Nope."

"Great, let's do it." Eren smiled, flipping upright in his chair and reclining it just slightly. His face had turned red from hanging upside down for so long, but he enjoyed the fuzzy warmth beneath his cheeks. It made him feel youthful. Levi narrowed his eyes skeptically and handed him the first picture. 

Eren examined it thoroughly, making an effort to look as genuine as possible before giving his answer. "A penis."

Levi was not amused. "You told me you would take this seriously."

"No, I said I'd answer your questions." Eren reminded him. In actuality, of course, he didn't see a penis. He saw a cow. Very clearly, in fact. There seemed to be a small orange butterfly in the middle. He figured that was what most people saw, since it was so blatantly a cow that there was no question. 

"But I see a cow." He decided that seeing a cow wasn't anything personal, so he allowed Levi to know this information. 

"Alright, how about this one?" Levi handed him another paper. 

This one was a lot more challenging. Eren squinted at it, trying to make sense of the seemingly senseless blobs of ink on this laminated paper. 

"It's smiling at me." Eren said finally. "Looks like it's got, like, horns or something."

"And this one?"

"Two headless people, with their legs chopped off too, playing patty cake."

"Okay... this one?"

"Oh god, that's creepy-looking..." Eren cocked an eyebrow when handed the next paper. It reminded him of those creepy books with the terrifying watercolor paintings and scary stories that he and his friends would read when they were younger, to see who was the bravest. "It looks like... a dog... with its snout chopped off."

Levi stared at the picture as he handed Eren the next. "This one."

"That's a butterfly, flapping its wings."

"This one."

"Okay, this one actually looks like a dick. Like a dick and a vagina. I'm being serious this time."

Levi sighed and handed him the next picture. 

"Two legless women facing each other."

Levi handed him the next one. This one was tricky. It had colors, as opposed to the previous pictures, which were just plain black. Instead of being able to morph each blot into one silhouette, he had to split them up into different shapes. 

"These two are chameleons... and then this is a butterfly... this is an upside down ram's head and then this is a piece of paper being torn in half."

"Very specific."

"Appreciate the genuine answers." Eren said with a small chuckle, looking up at Levi as he handed them the final sheet of paper. 

"And what's this?"

"It's a fox." Eren said after a bit of examination. "That's bleeding from its mouth."

"Alright, I think that's good enough." Levi took the uneven stack that Eren had made beside him on the armrest, straightened it out, and tucked it back into the side pocket. "What do you think about the answers you gave?"

"I think you're gonna think I'm a psychopath."

"Are you a psychopath?" Levi was looking down at his papers... shuffling them, rearranging them... not paying enough attention. Eren took the opportunity to creep in really close, up in Levi's face. He tilted Levi's chin up with a finger, giving a devilish smirk. 

"Do I look like a psychopath?" 

"Mr. Jaeger, I'm going to have to ask you to sit down." Levi said, calm and collected. Eren was slightly dismayed that this gesture seemed to not affect Levi at all, so he pushed it further. 

"What, am I making you uncomfortable?" He smiled, moving in even closer. Their noses brushed against each other. Levi didn't pull away, however. He could've, but he didn't. 

"Sit down." He said, sterner now. Eren narrowed his eyes and backed off, doing as told and lowering back into the recliner. 

"Now, Mr. Jaeger, I'm going to have to ask you about your sexuality."

"Why, you interested?" Erens smirk returned. Levi shut him down quickly, however. 

"Answer the question."

"I don't believe in sexuality, Doc. I am who I am." Eren said, remaining as vague as possible. Vague was good, vague was... safe. Though he failed to realize that his answer really wasn't vague at all. 

"Do you have a partner?"

"Yeah, Meghan Fox."

"So you're single?"

"Maybe."

Levi wrote 'single' into his notebook. "Who are your closest friends?"

"Chris Pratt and Morgan Freeman."

"And do you have a job?"

"I'm a professional poker player." 

"Do you live alone?"

"No, I live in a cave with a pack of wolves."

Levi snapped his notebook shut, startling Eren. It made quite a loud noise, even though he'd only used one hand. Levi stood, took a deep breath, to removed his glasses to polish them. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Jaeger. Next week, please come prepared to answer my questions honestly, or I can assure you you will regret it." He said, sliding the arm of his glasses into the neck of his sweater and folding them over it. Eren watched, eyebrow cocked, as he made his exit.

"We still have twelve minutes left." He said, after checking his watch. Levi didn't answer him, just exited and let the door shut slowly behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in this chapter, as you can see, Eren does an ink blot test. Specifically, the Rorschach (pretty sure I spelled that wrong but fuck it) Ink Blot test. I took this myself, and my answers do for the most part correlate with Eren's. So if I'm a psychopath... meh. The results I got from the test were really confusing and pretty useless. But I decided it'd be somewhat confusing to describe what Eren is seeing without showing you guys, so I put my html knowledge to work and put the images in the text!! Yay!! Feel free to leave what you saw in the images down in the reviews, I'd love to know what other people saw. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! Please drop a review on your way out, motivates me to get chapters out quicker! [insert more low key desperate begging for reviews here]


	3. Session III: Victim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking so long with each chapter... I always forget how quickly time passes and I'm always super busy and I procrastinate majorly. But since I'm finally back, please enjoy this chapter!! It took me a while to finish it up... then endkind of evaded me when I got to it. It's kind of not good, but I hope it's tolerable...!
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone that's read and commented and left kudos so far! It keeps me going! ^o^

Levi wasn't waiting today, but Eren was too deep in muddled thoughts to notice.

He walked in and sat down in his brown leather recliner, failing to notice that there was a tear in the right armrest. He didn't notice that there was a bloodstain on the floor, either. He should've, but he didn't. 

He ran his fingers delicately over his left eye. Even the lightest of touches sent a spike of pain back into his eye socket. It was so swollen, he could barely see out of it. Armin helped him put makeup over it, but it honestly didn't help. Eren insisted, however. He didn't want Levi asking about it. But he knew he would. You didn't have to be a therapist to wonder about the swollen lump on someone's face.

Eren sniffed and scowled, thinking about the memory of the bruise's origin. He was replaying it over and over in his mind, each time in number detail.

"Eren."

Eren inhaled sharply, startling out of his daze. He looked up. Levi stood above him, eyebrows furrowed with genuine concern. Eren stared, not knowing what to say, what to do... he felt... empty. Like he was full of all this turmoil, but the second Levi called his name, all of it just... drained away. But now, there was nothing left. Somehow, this felt even worse.

Eren looked awful. Levi wanted to say something about it, but he didn't even know where to start. His swollen eye, his messy hair... but mostly, the tear running down his cheek. Where had this boy _been_? Previously, he'd been so arrogantly vague and sarcastic. But today, he sat with his shoulders hunched forward, his arms folded tightly over his stomach, his eyes hazy and lifeless. Or his eye, rather. Levi couldn't see the other one, it was so swollen. He was vulnerable. It was like he was looking at a completely different person.

"You're crying." Levi decided to ignore the bruise for now. Eren blinked a couple times with his good eye, and pressed a shaky hand to his cheek. When he felt the stream of moisture on his jaw, he quickly wiped it away with his sleeve and sniffled again, shrugging.

"Something in my eye." Eren knew it was a bullshit excuse, but he didn't have the energy for a real one.

"Sure, alright. Then what happened to the other one?" Levi changed his mind about ignoring the bruise and sat down, balancing his notebook on his knee.

Eren shrugged again and turned away. He didn't want to come up with an excuse, but he didn't want to tell the truth either. He just wanted to leave. He'd have nowhere to go if he did, but he knew that staying meant that he would have to talk about it. And that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Levi could tell that Eren was delicate that day. He also knew that it would be a lot easier to get answers out of him in this state than it normally was. But, for some reason, he didn't want to do that to him. He could sense that Eren felt out of place here, and he didn't want that.

"I'm not asking you as a therapist, I'm asking you as a concerned acquaintance." Levi regretted using 'acquaintance' to describe his relationship with Eren, but it was the only word that came to mind. Eren looked up at him, and shrugged again.

"I fell." He lied.

"Onto what, somebody's fist?" Levi tried not to sound like an asshole, but it happened anyway.

"Onto a... door." Eren sputtered a little on his response, and cringed a little once he'd given it. That was a shitty excuse and he knew it. "Doorknob. Onto a doorknob."

"You fell onto a doorknob." Levi repeated, monotonous. Eren sighed. "No, I didn't fall onto a doorknob."

"Then what did happen?"

Eren didn't answer. He fiddled with the hem of his sweater, pulling on a loose string. Levi watched him for a bit, tight lipped, and then sighed.

"Eren, I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me." He said. "This can be a safe place for you, nothing you say here will be repeated elsewhere."

"But you'll write it down in your little notebook, yeah?" Eren mumbled. Levi glanced down at the notebook, and gave a heavy sigh. He dug around in his back pocket for a little bit, before pulling out a lighter.

"What are you doing?" Eren asked, watching as Levi fiddled with it. Once he'd gotten it going, he lifted the notebook above it, and lowered the corner onto the puny flame. Eren watched, jaw hanging slightly open, as the small notepad shriveled. Levi held it as long as he could, until there was only a small corner of paper that wasn't burning. Burnt pieces of the notebook fell to the floor, and sizzled with the newfound cool. Levi dropped the notebook, and stamped it out.

"What notebook?" He asked. Eren didn't know what to think about this. He was conflicted, he didn't know whether to be weirded out or terrified or mopey or skeptical.... so he laughed.

"You could've just put it away, you know." He said through his laughter, covering his mouth and sitting back into his chair. The corner of Levi's mouth twitched up in a tiny smile... but only for a moment. He shrugged.

"I could have. You probably wouldn't have laughed, though." He crossed his legs, folding his hands over his knee.

"Would you like to tell me what happened to your eye now?" Levi asked again. Eren's smile faded, and he looked Levi in the eye, finally.

"Umm... my girlfriend... punched me." Eren said, after a minute of thought.

"So you do have a girlfriend." Levi leaned back, wishing he could write that down. Obviously, he couldn't.

"Yeah, I do." Eren scratched the back of his head.

"Would you like to tell me about her?"

Eren sighed. "Her name's Mikasa. We've been dating since high school, but we've known each other since we were kids."

"Why did she punch you?"

"She was angry at me."

"Why?"

"Hell if I know..." Eren chuckled a bit, but his eyes didn't mirror the implied emotion. Levi found this answer intriguing.

"Would you consider her abusive?"

"Can I prefer not to answer?" Eren said, looking up. Levi held eye contact, but didn't answer him. Eren sighed.

"I live with my friend Armin." He changed the subject. "I've known Armin even longer than I've known Mikasa. He's smart and thoughtful and selfless, and..." Eren smiled a bit. "The most amazing person I know."

"How so?"

"Well, he's like..." Eren thought about it. "He's got pure intentions, no matter what. He's always trying his best to make everyone happy, and he's always putting everyone else first. He's stuck with me through everything, even when everyone else... left me behind." Eren trailed off. He was headed down a very personal path.

"He sounds like a great friend." Levi commented. He noticed that Eren was tapering off, and decided to delve into the whole 'left me behind' thing in another session. He'd gotten plenty already.

"And what's Mikasa like?" He asked next.

"She's..." Eren thought for a bit. "She's... clingy. And she's always looking out for me, which should be a good thing, but it's gotten to the point where she has to know where I am, what I'm doing... all the time. It's sickening. I've actually grown to resent her."

"I see." Levi nodded. He checked his watch. "We have three minutes left. Would you like to continue talking?"

Eren shook his head.

"Then you can go ahead and leave." Levi said, standing up and walking over to the desk in the corner. Eren nodded and stood, making his exit.

"Thank you for your cooperation today." Levi said to him on his way out. Eren stopped moving momentarily, shrugged, and continued out.

"Whatever..." He mumbled as the door shut behind him.


End file.
